Astroneer: Terran and Beyond
by Dashanerocket
Summary: It's the 25th century and mankind has reached out to the stars. Question is, is it too far? Four astronauts are sent to an alien planet to explore it and it's star system. Missing the memories of their past lives, they will have to work together to survive. Rated T for mild themes. ON HOLD FOR NOW
1. Chapter 1

Edit: Hi, there! I have decided to put this story on hold until after Astroneer's 1.0 release. I might get it back up again soon, but no guarantees. I am NOT abandoning this project. I still have so many ideas and stories to share. I just would rather wait until the game is complete, so I won't have to change stuff around and backtrack too often. Thank you for your patience.

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Chapter 1

Landfall

Somewhere in a dark room floating through the cosmos, a cryo-stasis pod hatch opened with a 'hiss' and a young man stumbled out and fell to his knees. He then crumpled over and coughed for a minute for his throat was very dry and his legs and arms were very sore. He had a pounding headache and a ringing in his ears. He lay there in his weakness for a while. " _What the heck is going on? Where am I? Who am I?"_ he thought. His mind was a swirling mess.

He was wearing a light blue jumpsuit, had short brown hair, and had bright green eyes.

Eventually, his strength came back to him and his headache and the ringing stopped. With all his might, he got up and looked around.

He was in a cylinder shaped room with no windows and white metallic walls. There was the stasis pod he just came from on one end, a large monitor on the right wall, some large crates against the other and a large door on the other end. There were other terminals and computers on the walls too. The man tried to remember where he was but nothing came to him. He didn't even know who he was.

He cautiously walked to the large, thin, monitor and touched a small 'A' shaped icon in the corner of the screen. The screen came to life and showed a play icon. The man reached up and hesitated for a moment before tapping the icon. The logo of 'Exo Dynamics' came up on screen and a loud company jingle played. The man winced from the loud sound in the otherwise silent room.

"Greetings, Commander!" the voiceover on the video played. The voice sounded like the stereotypical car salesman or company CEO. "Exo Dynamics presents, solar system LEST3R 36B!" The display showed an animation of a star system with several planets orbiting a star. An icon labeled with "You Are Here" was orbiting a planet.

"We know you may not remember much right now, but your memories should come back soon. Our stasis process can sometimes temporarily erase memories." The man watched the video and raised an eyebrow.

"To get you up to speed, the year is 2512 EST(Earth Standard Time). Your name is Commander Nick and you are 20 years old. You are our top-rated 'astroneer'. Trained by the best to be the best astronaut there can be! And by 'we' I mean Exo Dynamics. We built the ship you're in now and we got you and your crew here safely. We also invented and designed most of the equipment you'll be using.

" _I'_ _m in_ _space? I'm in space?! Why don't I feel weightless then?" Did I sign up for this? Ugh, I'm thirsty."_ thought the man, apparently called Nick.

"You and your team are going on the adventure of a lifetime!" the video continued. "To explore the solar system and prepare for further habitation and eventually, large-scale industry. That's what it means to be an astroneer! You're currently in orbit around a planet we've nicknamed "Terran". It's the most habitable of all the planets in this solar system. You'll start here and then build up a base and prepare for departure to the other planets, and then explore them." Nick was getting tired of the far too excited and bubbly CEO presentation voice.

"Exo Dynamics will supply your tools and equipment to get started and will support you along the way. Please check behind you in those crates to find your space suit and Terrain Deformation Tool(TDT)." The screen showed schematics of a space suit and some other weird tools an devices.

Nick walked over to the crates and found one with what looked like space suit icon on it. He pushed the large green button on the top and the crate flew open. Inside was a white space suit with blue strips on the shoulder pads, legs and the helmet and a shiny gold visor. The was a life support control pack on the chest with a few large yellow air tubes running from it to the helmet. It had large lights on the side of the helmet for working in the dark. Something looked familiar about the suit, but it was too fuzzy to make a connection. Like in a forgotten dream.

There was also a large suit EVA backpack that looked like it could attach to the back of his suit. It had many red slots on it and little gizmos and gadgets all over it. This he did not recognize and he had no idea how to use it.

The video continued to play. "An AI assistant will accompany you and your crew on your endeavors. They will assist in decision making and instruct on how to use your equipment. Decisions are ultimately up to you, but the AI can provide some useful information. There should be enough food and supplies to last you and your team for about a month. After that, your team will have to be self-sufficient. In the event of an emergency, a rescue pod will be sent to retrieve you and your crew.

"Exo Dynamics wishes you the best of luck and we look forward to your homecoming. Remember, you are pioneers, engineers and astronauts all in one. The Astroneers! Now go! Explore, discover, build and thrive!" The screen showed the company logo and jingle and video ended.

Nick blinked at the screen a few times. A whole lot of information had entered his and confused brain very quickly. He looked back to the space suit. A whole planet to be discovered, and then a whole freaking star system! But he was so confused. _"_ _Who am I? I'm a commander? Who is my crew? I don't know how to lead! What will we find out there? What if it dangerous? Are we just_ _g_ _onna be left here? What about home? Do I have a family?"_

Standing around and waiting, he decided, wasn't going to get him any answers. Looking through the other crates he found some food(nothing fancy, just protein bars and freeze-dried fruits) and some "O _h thanks goodness!"_ water. After spending who know hows long in stasis, anything tasted good. He sat down and ate a protein bar and drank (a lot of) water.

Feeling re-energized, Nick donned his suit (with some difficulty) and EVA pack, picked up the rest of the crates and headed toward the hatch on the other side of the room. Opening it revealed a cone-shaped landing pod. It had Exo Dynamics and the label 01 on the side. He put the boxes in the little cargo bay on the side of the pod. He then took one last look at the room that had sheltered his sleeping body for what could have been decades. He then stepped in, sat down, strapped in and sealed the hatch.

Inside was a console with many buttons on it, none of which he recognized. There was one flashing button labeled: AI. He pressed hoping that it was the AI assistant.

A synthesized female voice came in through his helmet speakers and an icon showed up on his helmet's Heads Up Display(HUD). ["Good morning Nick. I'm your AI assistant, Anna. Would you like help with anything?"]

Startled, Nick answered back. "Uh, Hello? Um, what should I be doing?" he asked

["The landing pod is almost ready for departure. We are just waiting for the rest of the crew to get ready."] came back the reply.

"Oh, uh, could I talk to them?"

["Certainly."] A little chime sounded and three more icons appeared.

"Uh, hi? Can anyone hear me?" Nick asked.

"Sup! New suit, who dis?" A gruff but hearty sounding male voice chuckled.

"Hiya!" said a more energetic and fun female voice.

"Oh, hey there." a quiet and shy female voice said.

Nick was relieved that there were other people nearby. "Hi, guys! So, apparently, I'm your commander. My name's Nick. Did you guys get videos too?" he asked.

"Yeah man. The real annoying guy right?" the other male asked. "Oh yeah. My name's Chris. Pleased to meet you."

"Yeah, well I'm Tristi." said the excited girl.

"Um, I'm R-Ruby. Pleased to meet you. Sir." stuttered the nervous-sounding girl. Nick could tell she was very uncomfortable.

"Hi, guys. So, um, do any of you know what we're doing?" Nick asked.

"Nope, not at all!" exclaimed Tristi, clearly not really concerned for their safety and more so about the adventure.

"Not really." Chris said.

"Oh, I was hoping someone would know." said Ruby. It seemed the others had lost their memories too.

["We are ready for departure to Terran's surface. Awaiting launch order from the commander. Please push the flashing orange button on your navigation console"] said Anna.

"I guess that's me." Said Nick

"Then punch it man!" Chris nearly shouted with anticipation.

"OK then. Launch!" Nick said as his pressed the button.

["Launching"] confirmed the AI.

On cue, the pod bays opened and all four landers dropped from the large, orbiting station. Nick felt his gut get thrown as they transitioned to microgravity and he began to float in his seat. He also got a good glimpse, through the porthole, of the ship that had brought them to this foreign solar system.

A long cylindrical craft with huge engines, massive fuel and gas tanks, and a large rotating ring to simulate gravity. That's why he felt gravity even in space. The whole thing looked very expensive and must've taken a long time to build. It was a marvelous sight to behold and Nick couldn't help but say, "Oh wow!", and he heard one of the others gasp too. As the landing pods began their de-orbit burn the ship rotated out of view. The next sight, however, took Nick's breath away.

There, below them was Terran. Strikingly bright colors. Gentle green grasslands and forests. Rocky blue plains. Snow-capped mountain tops and deep dark ravines. Orange and yellow deserts. White, soft and puffy clouds and beautiful blue lakes and rivers. It looked like a paradise. _"_ _Is this going to be our home from now on?"_ Nick wondered, nearly in tears.

The whole crew sat in silence as the pods descended into the atmosphere. The pods quivered, and shock as the landing burn brought them down to the surface. Nick saw the sky outside the window become more and more blue and he began to hear the noise of the wind rush past his pod. Eventually, the four pods landed in a circle, in a grassy field, about 40 meters from each other. Nick relaxed as the hard landing he expected never came, but instead came a gentle touch down.

This was it, an entirely new planet that no one had ever been to. He and his crew would be the first Astroneers to explore and colonize this alien world. "So, what do we do now, Anna?" he asked the AI assistant.

["I would suggest leaving the landing pod"] it answered back.

"Ah, of course." Nick deadpanned.

["Then you should meet up with your crew and begin preliminary scouting and base construction."]

"Alright, let's see what we've got here." Nick said as he unbuckled himself from the chair.

End of Chapter 1

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 **AUTHOR'S NOTES**

 **Hey there, thanks for reading my first chapter. I plan to make this a long-running series (40 chapters or so) so stay tuned if you want more. The next chapter will have more character interaction and will be longer. I just had to get this intro out of the way. And yes, I am taking some artistic liberty. This will not be a 1:1 recreation of the game.**

 **I want to aim for about 2000+ words per chapter. I will try to upload a least once a month, but I have no set schedule and I still have a life ya know.**

 **Please use the review section to let me know what you thought, give constructive criticism, or just a word of encouragement. You can select to follow the story or me for updates for when the next chapter comes out.**

 **I don't know maybe this story won't be read by many and it will just end up lost in the pile of many others stories. XD Well you did read this so thanks again.**

 **Until next time,**

 **Dashanerocket :)**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

New Faceless Faces

Nick slowly opened the hatch on his landing pod and stepped out onto the grassy field. Looking around he saw the other three drop pods and their occupants emerging too. Nick took a breath of the air from his suit tanks. It smelt artificial but strangely familiar and comforting. The scenery was unlike anything he had ever seen.

The land was mostly flat with some hills here and there. The grass was mostly short, thin and green, but there were thicker patches that were blue or yellow. Strangely shaped, multicolored shrubs and bushes were scattered here and there. Trees as tall and thin as telephone poles with large green, orange and purple leaves at the top only. The sky was a pale blue and fluffy white clouds hung low and high in the sky. The planet's star was a yellow dwarf; bright and warm. A large and close moon hung in the sky, clearly visible in the daylight.

A flock of what looked like birds flew overhead in an X shaped pattern. A blue lizard-like creature scurried along the ground, through a bush, and into what might have been a burrow. A swarm of tiny insects flew past, dancing in the breeze.

All Nick could say was, "Wow..." as he looked around in awe. He looked towards the rest of the crew and saw them doing the same. He heard a buzzing sound and looked to see a small, winged insect had landed on his hand. The insect looked up at Nick, then made a small chirping sound and flew away. Nick watched it fly away in wonder.

"Hey, uh... Anna? What's the atmosphere here like?" Nick asked the assistive AI.

["Preliminary sampling provides evidence of a thick atmosphere primarily composed of nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide."] Anna relayed. ["Further detailed sampling is required to find exact composition percentages and other trace gasses. Recommend that you keep your helmets on for now. The temperature is currently 19°C. The air is moderately humid with a 7% chance of rainfall currently. No significant radiation detected, but until the magnetic field is proven stable, it is recommended that suits are kept on."]

Nick took a moment to process this. "Oh...ok." he finally said. Looking at the ground near him he took a few steps, then made a few hops. The gravity was a bit "floatier" than he had expected.

"Hmmm... Anna, what's the gravity here?"

["Terran's gravity is about 0.8g. 4/5 of that of Earth."] Anna replied.

Nick took a big jump over a nearby rock, easily sailing over it. "Huh, cool." he remarked.

Nick looked down at his feet and saw his boot prints. " _Wow!_ ", He thought to himself. " _The first people on this planet!"_ A small insect that looked like a dragonfly landed on his hand. Moving his hand closer to his face he marveled at the amazing creature. Delicate and fragile. A tiny, innocent alien insect Nick was overwhelmed by a mixture of feelings. Peace, excitement, solemness, joy, fear, wonder.

"Hey, are you ok?" Chris' voice snapped Nick out of his trance. Nick turned to the other 3 figures. " _Well, I guess it's time to meet my crew."_ Nick thought as he regained his composure.

Nick walked over to the other humans, who had gathered on a large round pad near the four drop pods. As he walked he heard a rumbling sound coming from behind him. He looked back to his landing pod only to see it lift off and fly away into the sky. _"Ok then?"_. He looked and saw the other pods had left too.

"Uh, how'd this get here?" Nick motioned toward the pad he walked over.

"We think it landed alongside us." said Tristi. "I think its a landing pad of some kind, but 'fatty' here thinks it's a dance floor." she said with an audible smirk.

"Hey, I didn't say I thought it was, I just said it looked like one!" Chris retaliated. "And I'm not fat! The suit is just too big!"

Nick reached the group and Chris immediately shook Nick's hand. "It is a pleasure to meet and work with you sir!"

Nick, looked Chris over. He couldn't see his face through his golden helmet visor, but his suit and short stature did in-fact make him look overweight. It was a hardshell, big and bulky, made to work in harsh conditions. The large, round helmet and segmented joints made him look bubbly and round. He would probably find it hard to move fast in a suit like that. The arms had blue stripes like Nick's.

Nick returned the handshake and smiled. "It's a pleasure to meet you too Chris."

"Hi, I'm Tristi." The next person spoke and shook Nick's hand.

Tristi's suit was the exact opposite of Chris'. Her's was a skin-tight suit that clung to her body in a very 'un-modest' way. She was a bit taller than Nick and Chris and had a very nice figure. The suit was obviously made for mobility and comfort. It had the same blue stripes on the arms and legs. The helmet lights were positioned near the top of the helmet, making it resemble a dog or a teddy bear.

"Um, is that the only suit they gave you?" Nick asked, keeping his eyes up. Tristi immediately withdrew and covered her chest. If Nick could see her face, he'd be right in guessing it was pretty red.

"I-I...yes." said a very embarrassed Tristi. "It was the only one in the boxes." She hung her head in shame. "It's rather flattering, isn't it?"

"I think its pretty hot!" said Chris.

Tristi gave him a punch on the shoulder. "Shut up!" she hissed, clearly not pleased.

Nick looked turned toward Chris. "Hey, have some respect, ok?"

"Sorry." Chris apologized for the uncalled for comment. Although Nick did have to agree with him. Tristi did look cute. Thankfully the suit wasn't 'too' revealing.

Nick turned to the last astronaut of the group. She was smaller in stature and had been looking down at the ground in silence, twiddling her thumbs. Her suit was a bright orange, old-fashioned flight suit. An old relic. For the most part, it looked pretty old and worn, patched up in some places, but did have some modifications, presumably to interface with modern technology. The helmet was white with a dark black visor, still opaque enough to hide her face.

The suit was a little too loose around the arms and legs so it was probably a few sizes too big for her. The suit had no blue stripes so it probably wasn't a standard issue suit.

"And you must be Ruby?" Nick turned to the shy astronaut and stuck out his hand.

At first, Ruby didn't react, but after a second or two she quickly snapped back to attention and vigorously shook Nick's hand.

"Sorr-ry, Nice to m-meet you Commander Nick sir!" she blurted out.

"It's alright. You can be cool." Nick tried to calm her. He could tell she was a little jumpy and wanted to ease her nerves.

"Right, sorry...s-sir."

"And what do you do?" Nick asked to help start a conversation.

"O-oh I'm a pilot. A-and a biologist! I like to, um, study plants and stuff"

"Really? That's good, we'll need someone to research all these new flora and fauna we're seeing here. By the way, what's your specialty, guys? Nick asked the other two.

"I'm a techie and a chemist. I fix your computers and handle your dangerous chemicals." replied a (worryingly) happy sounding Tristi.

"Yeah, and I'm the materials expert and mechanic. I mine heavy metals and fix your toaster." chuckled Chris. "I'm also the buff dude who does all your heavy lifting." He said as he tried to flex his biceps.

Because of his hard-suit's ridged parts, he failed quite badly. Tristi giggled at the sight of this, and Nick couldn't help but chuckle too. Ruby looked up but stayed silent. Nick noticed this and made a mental note. Chris huffed in annoyance and gave up.

"Well, at least I got a giggle." Chris said with a hidden smirk.

"Um, I don't mean to sound weird, but is anyone else having a hard time remembering things?" Nick asked.

"Oh, good, it wasn't just me." Chris sighed in relief.

"Mhm, yeah it's like I can remember how to speak, I can walk and I know 'how to human' in general, but I can't remember my past." Tristi answered.

"Exactly! It feels just like a fuzzy afterthought." Chris agreed.

"It feels like when you wake up knowing you had a dream, and you know what you thought of the dream, but you then just forget it? Nick asked.

"Yeah, but its weird because I don't remember my education or my training, but I can still put a space suit on and correctly use it, and I know my job and how to perform it." Chris solidified Nick's hunch.

"Quick, what's 'pi' to the 734th decimal place?!" Tristi fired at Chris.

"3.1,4,5,9,2,6,5,3,5,8,9,7,9,3,2,3,8,4,6,2,6,4,3,3,8,3,2,7,9,5,0,2,8,8,4,1,9,7,1,6,9,3,9,9,3..." Chris started to recite.

"Bwahaha!" Tristi cracked up laughing. Chris stopped counting and joined her in making fun of himself. Ruby remained silent. Nick began to wonder if she was alright.

"How about you, Ruby?" Nick asked her. "How's your memory?"

Ruby just shook her head. "No, I don't recall anything worth voicing."

"You sure? We could use all the info we can get." Nick questioned.

"Yeah, j-just some personal stuff. W-with all due respect, sir, its nothing that concerns you."

"Alright then, just let us know if you need anything." Nick tried to reassure her.

He then spoke to the whole group, "The video did say that we may find it hard to remember things for a while, so the effects might wear off soon. Let me know if you remember anything useful."

"Gotcha." confirmed Tristi. Chris and Ruby nodded.

"Ok, I think we should move on. We're burning daylight. Anna, what is the daylight cycle like on Terran?" Nick asked the AI.

["Terran's daylight cycle is approximately 19 hours long. There is about four hours left before sundown. The temperature is estimated to drop to 6°C."]

"Right, so we need shelter, since our landing ships are gone." Nick thought out loud.

"I wouldn't sleep in a ship so small anyway." Chris shrugged.

"Of course 'you' couldn't." Tristi playfully sneered.

"We could try this?" asked Ruby, pointing to a pedestal connected to the pad they were standing on. Nick moved over to get a look.

On the pedestal was a panel with screen and a button. "Initiate supply drop." Nick read aloud. He looked back to Chris and Tristi, who were standing in the middle of the pad. "Maybe you should move out of the way."

Chris shrugged, Tristi nodded and they stepped off the pad. Nick pushed the big green button to initiate the drop.

A few seconds passed when, all of a sudden, 6 large crates (like the ones Nick saw on the spaceship) fell from the sky and landed (hard) on the platform. The pad must've had some invisible cushioning properties, because the crates looked like they were in perfect condition. Not even a scratch.

"Yay, it's our birthday!" exclaimed Chris, already checking out the boxes.

The boxes were large, white crates with blue labels and yellow straps. The was a large flashing green button on each one. The crates were about 1 meter squared in volume and looked pretty heavy.

"There must be some kind of supply ship, still up in space." Tristi observed.

"This one has your name on it, Nick." pointed out Ruby. Nick moved to get a better look. A large, yellow, label with the name 'Nick' printed in white.

"I guess this is mine then." Nick said. "Got nothing else to do, let's open it up."

["I would suggest deploying the contents on a sturdy, flat surface, in a convenient place."] Anna chimed in.

Chris shrugged (which wasn't very visible under his suit) and picked up the box. The box wasn't light, but it was lighter than he expected. Nick had a look at their surroundings. He pointed to a patch of flat ground where the foliage wasn't as dense, and Chris carried it over there.

"Oh yeah, look at these bad boys go!" Chris grunted, obviously bragging about his strength.

"I don't know man. That suit looks an awful like a powered exoskeleton." Tristi teased, cocking her head and rubbing the bottom of her helmet.

"Whaaaaaaat?! Nooooo!" Christ exclaimed, sarcastically. He set the crate down in the marked out spot. He rubbed his hands together with anticipation. "Alright, let's see what we got!" He reached for the large, glowing, green button.


	3. Astroneer Update

**Hi all! I was reminded to give an update. It's been a while. Lotta stuff to talk about so if you don't like monologues I have a TL;DR version for you.**

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 **Short version: I'll start writing this again soon, I'm just waiting for the next update in the case it changes everything.**

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 **Yup. That's it. You can move on with your life now.**

 **Now... for those of you who crave details...**

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 **Long version: I started writing this series while Astroneer was still in Early Access. I originally planned to just incorporate any changes or additions to the game into the story. But, as the game grew closer to the release date, I realized that so much had changed, that I would have to start over again.**

 **The full release arrived and indeed, so much had changed, I have to rethink everything. It seriously broke my entire plotline and progression. I decided to complete the game to experience everything it offers before continuing on with this project. But I got busy and couldn't make any progress in the game. I still wanted to write an Astroneer adventure, but I didn't feel comfortable writing about something I knew very little about.**

 **I've recently been able to make good progress through Astroneer. I'm at 72%. I'm excited to continue writing a space novel. There is another significant update to the game on the horizon. It looks like it could change my plans again. I still have many plot-holes to figure out in my head before I start writing. And so, I'm going to wait just a little bit more.**

 **My plan is to start writing the first few chapters internally. Then, when the update rolls around, I'll make any needed changes and publish. So, you might have to wait a little longer for new chapters, but it's a lot less work to make changes in doc files than on . I basically just want to hold the chapters on for a little bit while I get the feel of how the story and the writing style will go.**

 **I seriously want to be the first person to write a good Astroneer fanfiction. I want it to be of good quality and the best it can be. So I'm writing The Little Differences while I wait as a practice. I've been putting off writing that story for a little while now and I'm kicking myself in the ass for it. I'll get on to it soon too.**

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 **Ok, I think that's it. I'm really sorry about the delays and not being honest. But, honestly, I just thought that nobody cared. Well, I was proven wrong and I thought it wrong to keep everyone in the dark.**

 **Thanks for reading my cringy stuff.**

 **Until next time,**

 **Dashanerocket**


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